As far as can be ascertained, no one has undertaken an in-depth study with respect to formulating a model for Agikuyu Christians’ funeral rites. Again, as far as I have been able to ascertain, neither has it been done for any other African tribe. This study surveyed traditional funeral rites that were observed by the Agikuyu before they interacted with other cultures and religions. Also surveyed was how the contemporary Agikuyu are coping with death; what the funeral rites were during Biblical times, as revealed in Scripture; how did the early Christians cope with death and how did the Church fathers teach the faithful how to handle issues surrounding death. The issue of resurrection and of the resurrected body was also surveyed. A critical correlation of all these aspects was done, which compared all those aspects with each other in order to establish what relationship the various traditions have with each other and with the current Agikuyu Christian practice of coping with death. The study has shown that the Agikuyu traditional funeral practices are neither known nor followed by the contemporary Agikuyu. Also observed is that funeral practices of the Jews in scripture were not normative. Additionally, it was shown in the study that funeral and burial rites practised by the early Christians were not directed by the early Christian fathers to be necessarily observed by future Christians.
MbuguaJ_Final-Dissertation-Oct-2014Author: Mbugua, Johnson.